Film

What’s that sound at the door? It’s only October, knocking away like there’s no tomorrow! Autumn is now well and truly here, and with it the Edinburgh Filmhouse and the Glasgow Film Theatre have gone and laid on a cinematic bonanza for all of us to celebrate. Here’s a sneak peek at the new releases which will spend at least a week in their environs, but for the full listings, check out the programmes on their respective websites, which are handily linked to above.

This powerful debut from director Estrada focuses on a black man attempting to see out the final three days of his probation in Oakland, California, only to find himself the witness to an incident of racial police brutality. The happening puts him in a tight spot and forces him to reassess his friendship with his highly erratic (and white) best friend.

Nicolas Cage takes on the role of a wronged lumberjack living in the rural wilderness of 1983, who stops at nothing to gain vengeance on the gang of motorbike hoodlums who kidnap his girlfriend. With a picture of Cage’s bloodied face as the poster, you can probably expect the bodies to pile up quicker than the logs with this one.

Fresh from his outstanding 2016 success with La La Land, director Chazelle teams up with Ryan Gosling to tell the story of Neil Armstrong’s life in the eight years leading up to his lunar jaunt. Sacrifices, heartaches and, of course, monumental triumphs abound in this up-close-and-personal account of what it takes to make one giant leap for everyone else.

Hot on the heels of 2015’s Oscar-winning Son of Saul, Hungarian filmmakers are back with another heartwrencher of a Holocaust story set in, as the name suggests, 1945. On the day that the town clerk’s son is due to be married to a pretty young peasant girl, two Hasidic Jewish men arrive via train bearing a mysterious trunk – and the town soon becomes a hotbed of prickly and unpredictable emotion.

Based on a true story, this crime drama focuses on four young wealthy students from Kentucky who try to make a name for themselves by undertaking one of the most audacious fine art thefts in US history. Unfortunately for them, there may now be a movie about their lives… but their lives are not a movie. Featuring interviews with the real foursome who attempted the crazy escapade.

This tale of small-town revenge and redemption saw lead actor Marcello Fonte waltz off with the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. In it, he plays an assuming suburban dog groomer who has his pride slighted and his masculinity questioned by the local loose cannon, an ex-boxer with a short fuse and a penchant for bullying his fellow townspeople. The hackles are well and truly up.

Written, directed, produced by and starring Liam O Mochain, this gentle arthouse gem is a testament to what can be done without the backing of big bucks behind a film. Here, a series of interconnecting tales revolve around misplaced items at the lost and found office an Irish train station. A movie brimming with heart-warming humanity and well-timed humour.